Zucchini Bread

One of the greatest things about summertime is the abundance of zucchini from the garden!  It's been really rainy, and it seems like when it rains a bunch the zucchinis blow up!  I can't pick them before they balloon into baseball bat size that is only good for zucchini bread.  This has been my go-to recipe this year.  It's from Melskitchencafe here.

She says to squeeze out the water from the zucchini.  I have done that.  I have also skipped that step.  It's great either way.  Also, I use vanilla yogurt instead of plain.  She says to use lemon juice or sour cream.  I use lemon juice (from a bottle). 

Additionally, I love to make mini loaves.  They bake in 25-30 min.

The Best Zucchini Bread (Mels Kitchen Café)

*Note: the recipe calls for a 9-inch by 5-inch sized loaf pan but I’ve also made this successfully in an 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan – the loaf doesn’t dome as well as it does in the larger pan since the batter fills up the pan more, but it still bakes up deliciously. Finally, I am sometimes short a few ounces of zucchini and I throw in enough shredded carrots to make up the difference – delicious!
*Makes one loaf of bread

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound zucchini (you’ll end up with about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of zucchini once it has been shredded and wrung through a towel to rid of excess liquid)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt (not fat-free)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or sour cream
6 tablespoons butter, melted
DIRECTIONS:
Adjust an oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously coat a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray (I use Baker’s Joy spray with flour for a great, easy release – you may want to grease and flour just to be safe).
Chop the ends off the zucchini (just 1/4-inch off each end) and finely shred the zucchini, peel and all. Place the shredded zucchini in a clean kitchen towel, wrap the towel, and wring the ends (like a an old-fashioned candy wrapper) to squeeze out all the excess water. You should have about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of dry zucchini. Set the zucchini aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk the sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice or sour cream, and butter until combined.
Gently fold the yogurt mixture and zucchini into the flour mixture, using a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients together until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
Bake until golden brown and a think knife or skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 45-55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then turn out into wire rack to cool for at least 1 hour. Store well-covered for up to three days.

Sorry no pictures.  I lost my camera, again.  It wouldn't matter anyways.  We eat this bread too fast to document that we had any!  :)